Harnessing Automation: How Rootstack Transformed Document Processing with OCR

Robots, artificial intelligence, automation—these technologies have become ubiquitous in today's market, and for good reason: they significantly enhance productivity for businesses and teams alike.

At Rootstack, we are always attuned to these advancements. That’s why we’re excited to introduce one of our most innovative projects in Robotic Process Automation: the development of an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) solution for document processing.

The Challenge

Our client, a cargo and transportation company, manages shipments for various customers from departure to destination. Clients send standard-format documents containing all the necessary cargo details for presentation at ports and customs.

Previously, the company relied on a manual process to input these documents into their internal platform—a time-consuming and tedious task. To improve efficiency, they sought an automated solution to streamline this process and save hours of manual data entry each day.

Our Solution

Rootstack’s experts quickly got to work. We developed an OCR bot using UiPath, designed to read and process client-generated documents, known as settlements. These documents could be in digital format or scanned from physical copies.

Thanks to this OCR bot, the company no longer has to manually process documents. We integrated Amazon Textract, a powerful OCR solution available as a UiPath plugin, to enhance document readability. With this implementation, the bot can now accurately extract data from both digital and scanned documents, even those with challenging visibility.

A standard OCR can typically only process downloaded digital files, but with Rootstack’s custom implementation, our client now benefits from a bot capable of reading and interpreting scanned documents that would otherwise be difficult to decipher.

Why Amazon Textract?

We chose Amazon Textract because it is one of the most comprehensive OCR solutions available. It effectively addresses our client’s challenge of processing scanned documents with unclear or complex layouts. For example, when processing a document with ten product entries, Amazon Textract reads each line item and accurately inputs the data into the company's software.

Additionally, we leveraged the community version of UiPath, a free tool, to develop this solution, ensuring accessibility and cost-effectiveness.

Enhanced Monitoring & Error Handling

To ensure reliability, we implemented a fail-safe mechanism that detects potential processing errors. If the bot encounters an issue and is unable to process a document, it automatically sends an email notification to the designated personnel. This feature ensures that issues are promptly addressed, minimizing disruptions in operations.

With this innovative automation, Rootstack has once again demonstrated how technology can revolutionize business operations, increasing efficiency and reducing manual workload. Stay tuned for more exciting projects as we continue to drive digital transformation!